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No mother or father expects to bury their child at the age of 16 years

Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Pilling

Last night his heartbroken aunt Hayley Whitfield, 23, told how Lewis' grandmother, Kathleen, 58, had rung late on Sunday night to break the news, adding: "Mum phoned and said 'Lewis has been found unconscious. He is in the back of an ambulance.' She was crying.

"I went to the hospital. It was horrendous. He lives just a few minutes walk from the canal. I can't bear to go there yet."

Hayley, who hopes to be a primary school teacher, said her nephew had never been in any trouble.

Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Pilling said the killer was still at large and anyone with any information about the "tragic fatal shooting" should "search their conscience" and come forward.

He continued: "No mother or father expects to bury their child at the age of 16 years.

He said the two people who found Lewis at 11.20pm had made "brave efforts" to help him until the ambulance arrived but he died at the city's University Hospital .

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Police search the canal where Lewis Dunne's body was found

His family - including his father Steven, mother Gemma, 37, and sister Yasmin, 17 - were yesterday(Mon) being comforted by relatives at the family terraced home.

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Lewis Dunne was fishing by the canal

Last night tributes were paid to Lewis, who was understood to have been a former pupil at Alsop High in Walton.

Friend Adam Whittaker posted a photo of the 16-year-old on Facebook with the emotional message: "Just can't come to terms with what happened last night! Nobody knows what to say.

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The killer is still at large and the police urge anyone with information to come forward

You had a heart of gold and a smile that couldn't compare to anybody else."